House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is being hounded in his own district by the group Republican Accountability Project, which prosecutes Republicans who support former President Donald Trump’s electoral fraud lies.
The group bought space on billboards in Bakersfield, California, which now read, “We heard the tapes Kevin. Stop lying about January 6th.”
The New York Times has released audio clips from a Jan. 10, 2021 call in which McCarthy hovers in conversation with House leadership, urging Trump to resign after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is being targeted in his own district by the Republican Accountability Project group with billboards in his California district that read, “We heard the tapes, Kevin. Stop lying about January 6th
The position of six billboards deceiving House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy about comments he made about fellow Republicans taped by the New York Times. McCarthy is representing Bakersfield, California
House Minority Chairman Kevin McCarthy walks out of the offices of the Republican National Committee on Wednesday after reportedly receiving a standing ovation after explaining why he made certain comments that were taped and published by the New York Times became
McCarthy, his No. 2 House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, and his then-No. 3 former Republican House Conference Chair Liz Cheney also discussed a series of inflammatory statements by their own GOP members.
On Wednesday morning, however, McCarthy reportedly smoothed things over, earning a standing ovation from fellow House Republicans after defending his comments from the tapes.
“He’s widely supported. Will be spokesman,” said a source in the room The Washington Post.
CNN’s Melanie Zanona reported that McCarthy told colleagues he was only entertaining scenarios when he told Republican leaders during a Jan. 10 call that former President Donald Trump should step down.
McCarthy and his allies were also caught complaining about the rhetoric used by other GOP congressmen such as Congressmen Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, Lauren Boebert and Barry Moore was used.
On Tuesday, the New York Times released new audio clips of McCarthy speaking with Scalise, then-Republican House Conference Chairman Cheney, Rep. Tim Emmer and a handful of congressional aides, in which he relayed his fears that a vocal fringe minority’s comments could lead to violence to lead.
“The tension is too high, the country is too crazy,” McCarthy warned on the Jan. 10 conference call. “I don’t want to look back and think we caused something or missed something and someone got hurt. I don’t want to do politics with it.”
This was also reported by the Washington Post that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, also briefly addressed about the call, said at the Wednesday morning meeting that Scalise needed to apologize for his comments.
Both House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (left) and Rep. Liz Cheney (right), who was the GOP conference chair at the time, attended the conference call in question. The audio file released Tuesday night caught them discussing their fellow GOP’s controversial rhetoric
In a clip from the call, McCarthy can be heard discussing comments Gaetz made on Newsmax, where he stalked other Republicans for being “anti-Trump.”
One of the Republicans who criticized Gaetz was Cheney, who blew up the outgoing president after the January 6 riot.
“These are serious things that people are doing that need to stop,” the House Republican grumbled, citing briefings he received from the FBI.
“I’ll call Gaetz, I’ll explain to him, I don’t know if I have much to say, but I’ll have a few others call him, too,” McCarthy continued. “That’s some serious shit cutting that out.”
Scalise emphasized that “what he’s doing may be illegal.”
“Well, he puts people in danger,” McCarthy said. “And he doesn’t have to do that. We saw what the people would do in the Capitol, you know, and these people came with ropes and everything else prepared.’
Scalise also pointed to comments from Brooks and Rep. Louie Gohmert, including how Brooks said at the Save America rally ahead of the Capitol attack that “today is the day American patriots start taking names and… to kick ass”.
“They also have the Maxine Waters and all that stuff, I know the Dems are in a very strong position to move a lot of things forward, but our members also have to start paying attention to what they’re saying, we can’t take it with that kind of s**t,” McCarthy said.
In the past, Republicans have persecuted Waters, a California Democrat, for some of her rhetoric.
McCarthy and GOP leaders discussed Rep. Mo Brooks’ (left) comments at the “Save America” rally in the hours before the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and things Rep. Matt Gaetz (right) said about “anti -Trump” Republicans, including Rep. Liz Cheney
During the call, Representative Liz Cheney addressed Representative Lauren Boebert (pictured) and noted that she had tweeted members’ movements during the Jan. 6 attack.
“You think the President deserves to be impeached for his statements? That’s almost something that goes further than what the president said,” McCarthy said of Brooks’ “kicking ass” line.
On the call, Cheney addressed Boebert and pointed out that she had tweeted the members’ movements during the January 6 attack.
McCarthy asked if Greene — often linked to Boebert for their shared, now-disowned interest in QAnon — had been a speaker at former President Donald Trump’s “Save America” rally.
McCarthy is also told by tweets from Moore.
“Wow, we have more arrests for stealing a podium on January 6 than for stealing an election on November 3. Atlanta, Philadelphia and Detroit would be places I would recommend you to go to,” Moore wrote before deleting his personal Twitter account.
On the death of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt, he commented, “As far as I know it was a black cop who shot the white veteran.”
“You know that doesn’t fit the narrative,” the Alabama Republican tweeted.
After Moore’s tweets are read aloud during the call, both McCarthy and Cheney are heard muttering, “Wow.”
McCarthy was also briefed on tweets sent by Rep. Barry Moore (pictured), including about the death of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt. “As far as I know, it was a black police officer who shot the white veteran. You know that doesn’t fit the narrative,” Moore wrote
“Can’t they take away their Twitter accounts too?” McCarthy then said.
The soundbites released Tuesday came from the same call in which McCarthy told GOP leadership he would call on Trump to step down – comments he continues to deny, though the recording was released publicly.
The Jan. 10 call was unveiled by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns in a preview of their new book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future.
The comments prompted Jan. 6 House Speaker Bennie Thompson to announce Tuesday that the panel would issue McCarthy “another invitation” to testify.
Then the Democrat-led committee — which includes Republican Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger — will decide whether to subpoena McCarthy and other Republicans, said Punchbowl News.